THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE
another range of sterile hills and from
these beheld the town far away in the
valley below.
Winding down, we forded a muddy
stream and at high noon, under a burn
ing sun, passed below the citadel-crowned
hill and made our way through the
swarming streets (see page 472).
Sivas has had a lurid history. Pompey,
Diocletian, and Justinian held it. Under
the Seljuks it reached its greatest pros
perity and its population was reckoned at
Ioo,ooo souls. In the eleventh century
it was captured by the Turkomans, a
century later by the Seljuks. Rebuilt in
1224, it was besieged in 1400, finally
passing into the hands of the Osmanli.
Many reminders of bygone civilizations
there are in and about the town. Among
the best preserved and most interesting
are the numerous minarets, dating from
the eleventh century, but still solid, digni
fied, and beautiful. They present, per
haps, the finest examples of Seljuk art
remaining in Asia Minor (see page 471).
STREETS SWARMING WITH THE LIFE OP
THE EAST
The Sivas of to-day, a town of 65,ooo,
is wholly Turkish and Kurdish, and there
fore picturesque. Its streets swarm with
the life of the East. There is an endless
amount of going and coming, though no
man seems to know what it is all about.
The curb market is very active. Formerly
the place was noted for its silver work,
but now this art, like so many of the arts
of Asia Minor, has lapsed. Even to-day,
however, one may occasionally find ex
quisitely wrought chains, to be had for
the value of the silver in them, the
modern dandy preferring the imported
machine-made chain as being more swank.
The bazaars are interesting. Squatting
cross-legged on a divan, sipping Turkish
coffee, and smoking a Samsun cigarette
while examining the unusual wares is not
the least interesting of pastimes. One is
never urged to buy; there is no loud
voiced extolling of articles, such as one
encounters in the bazaars of Istamboul
(Constantinople). The goods are there;
you can see them. If you wish to buy,
the price is thus and so. If you do not
care to buy, so it has been decreed by
Allah. Say no further, for is not to
morrow also a day, and is not man but
a road over which the events of life, both
good and bad, pass?
THE GREAT ROAD OF ASIA MINOR
Through Sivas passes the Great Road
of Asia Minor, the road over which for
centuries the caravans from Bagdad to
Istamboul have passed. Though it has
now fallen into complete disrepair, it is
still enormously important as a trade
route from the Black Sea to the interior.
It was over this road we started one
morning headed for the Black Sea and
Samsun, 200 miles away.
In two easy stages we made the town
of Tokat, having made a descent of some
thousand feet. Here for the first time we
saw corn growing.
Those of you who are familiar with
that famous classic of eastern life, "The
Adventures of Hajji Baba," will re
member that it was at Tokat that Hajji
Baba was last seen. Though that quaint
character must long ago have been gath
ered unto his fictitious fathers, his proto
types were in the khan at which we
stopped. Indeed, in all probability it was
the same khan where Hajji was afflicted
with sore illness and expected to die on
the third day and where he took the
calomel with such happy effect.
From Tokat to Amasia is one long or
two short stages-about 55 miles-and it
was our intention to make the distance in
one day. But a late start and the vicissi
tudes of the road, as well as trouble with
the pack animal, so delayed us that we
had not made more than half the distance
when at 2 in the afternoon we crossed
the swift Yeshil Irmak (the Iris of the
ancients) and rode beneath the over
towering castle which sentinels the town
of Turkal. Like many other towns of
Asia Minor, Turkal is short on conven
iences, but long on history. But we quite
forgot the discomfort in admiring the
Byzantine castle, its walls flame-lit by the
dying sun.
AMASIA RESEMBLES A STAGE TOWN
From Turkal we penetrated a wild,
wooded country, following a narrow cut,
and then descended into an open valley.
From here in the distance we could dis
cern a high crag surmounted by a castle.
For some distance our route paralleled
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